Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

It was another beautiful morning in the Caribbean, since by 6 o’clock the sun was rising above the blue Caribbean Sea. Ahead of the Silver Explorer bow was Bequia, our destination for today.

Punctually, we started our disembarkation for the tour. An easy Zodiac ride brought our guests to the jetty of Port Elizabeth, the main town of Beqiua. From there the excursion, a hike across the island to the Sea Turtle sanctuary, started.

Two nice ladies served as local guides, and with great enthusiasm our guests followed their lead. The hike first led through the village passing by the sometimes very colorful houses up a very smooth hill. As the thermometer showed already 30°C, this very smooth hill turned out to be a steep one for some of our guests. Reaching the top of the hill, the street went down past lot of nice gardens and towards a typical white sandy Caribbean beach named Spring Bay.

My colleagues and I were looking out for birds, flowers or interesting signs on our way, and giving interpretation to some of the bird species or plant species we saw. Shortly after Spring Bay we passed the old ruins of a sugar mill and Claire as well as Christian gave interesting information regarding slavery and slave trade in that region.

After a 1 hour and 40 minutes walk, we reached the Sea Turtle Sanctuary and the owner as well as my colleague Robin explained the history of the station as well as biological aspects of the turtles to our guests.

Our guests obviously enjoyed these fascinating animals and after 30 minutes we left the station to visit a nearby restaurant to enjoy refreshing local fruit drinks and some snacks. From there guests had the opportunity to go back by taxi to the pier.

After a short lunch break I started my duty driving the Zodiac shuttle for the afternoon. We had put snorkel gear and the kayaks up on a nearby beach so that the guests could enjoy the beautiful scenery of a Caribbean beach.

And the site was really a good spot, not only for swimming but also for snorkeling. We saw some wonderful coral socks and a lot of fishes playing around as we glided over the water surface, looking down into the beautiful underwater landscape of a Caribbean coral reef.

The sun was nearly setting as we left this amazing white beach on Bequia Island. Back on board, our Expedition Leader Shoshanah Jacobs talked about our activities tomorrow at sea, followed by a recap from Robin, Christian and Claudia talking about marine turtles, color aberrations in animals and the International Inquirer respectively in the Recap & Briefing.

In the evening our guests enjoyed a delicious dinner in The Restaurant while sailing away from Bequia Island and crossing over to our next destination the archipelago of Los Roques.